Ling Ke felt that the original Herrscher of Legion hadn't been bad enough. And nowhere near ruthless enough.
No wonder they were just a bunch of rabble.
While he himself——
[Game Character Template: Sixth Serenade] [Origin: Honkai Impact 3rd] [Character Traits: Level Mechanism, HP Mechanism, Infinite Stamina, Equipment Indestructible, Psy Attribute, Ice Damage Core, Freeze Core, Float Core, Spacetime Core, Character Switching...] [Game Skills: Normal Attack — Twilight Nocturne, Dodge — Raven Feather Shuttle, Special Attack — Lightless Tide, Ultimate — Frenzied Night Moment, Captain Skill — Shadow Veil...] [Background Talent: High Honkai Energy Adaptation Constitution, Kaslana Family Bloodline, Super Strength, Kaslana Gunfighting Arts, Phantom Thief...] [Related Info: Full name — Kallen Kaslana. Knowing she could not change the corrupt Schicksal from within, she became the 「Phantom Thief Violet」 to help ordinary civilians...]
If he loaded this template, the scene that would soon play out across the world was obvious.
The former Schicksal saint, Kallen Kaslana, would become a butcher feared, loathed, and cursed by the entire world.
The hands of 「her」 image would be stained with the blood of hundreds of millions.
And she — dead for centuries, her reputation painstakingly restored by Otto after he rose to power — would, in this Real World's long river of history, be left with crimes too numerous to record and a name that reeked for ten thousand years...
"Otto, ah, Otto. Your Stigmata Tree Plan is to create a brand-new timeline where Kallen is still alive — a timeline that belongs to her."
"But in this original timeline, if Kallen becomes someone hundreds of millions of people spit on and curse..."
"Would you really stand by and watch that happen?"
"How will you choose? This world's most selfish pure-love warrior, ah?"
Ling Ke was already looking forward to the answer.
Honestly, he couldn't be bothered to pass judgment on Otto as a person.
Right and wrong, good and evil, merits and faults... none of it concerned him.
All he knew was this: it was precisely because this Schicksal Archbishop had set such a "good example" that cruel human experiments inside Schicksal had become routine.
Even normalized.
No more words needed.
In the end — karma and retribution.
Ling Ke had no intention of speaking for other victims either.
Other people's suffering — let other people collect that debt themselves.
If they couldn't, then ultimately they still lacked the 「power」.
He was lucky. So he could be a debt collector who lived for himself.
On that premise——
Because of Otto, he had suffered.
So he wanted revenge.
He would never let the Stigmata Tree Plan succeed.
You want to save Kallen? Save the highest faith in your heart?
Then I will destroy it utterly. Turn every last hope into despair.
"As long as I exist, you can forget about achieving your wish."
"Struggle. Regret. Just like five hundred years ago."
"Once again, because of your arbitrary decisions — Kallen Kaslana was dragged into it."
"Nothing has changed!"
World Serpent Headquarters.
As a newcomer who'd only joined the organization a few months ago, Raiden Mei had recently been operating alongside Natasha Cioara... the cadre codenamed 「Raven」.
Over the past few days, leveraging her own formidable combat strength as the complete Third Herrscher, Mei had successfully completed a string of missions.
Assisting teammates in investigating Honkai-related incidents, for example.
Or eliminating World Serpent's enemies.
Today——
"Yo! If it isn't our big celebrity!"
"You've been so busy — it's practically impossible to get a look at you."
Raiden Mei had just returned to the headquarters base when she heard that sardonic voice.
Jackal. Cleo. Another World Serpent cadre.
In Raiden Mei's estimation — a bona fide villain.
The things she'd seen in the underground base of Sky City... those girls who'd been transformed beyond anything recognizably human were proof enough.
But now, this person was her colleague.
"What do you want?"
Toward Jackal, Raiden Mei's attitude was ice-cold.
Undisguised disgust, really.
Jackal, of course, knew why.
But that was exactly the point——
"Just recently, I stumbled onto something very interesting."
Jackal said this while handing over a tablet. "Intelligence shared by Schicksal not long ago."
"Plus updated supplementary material from Anti-Entropy after the fact."
"I think you'll find it very relevant."
As Mei reached out and took the device, Jackal sneered and started talking on her own. "Honestly? I used to think you were different from everyone else here."
"After all — you're a kind-hearted, innocent little thing. Even carrying the karmic debt of millions of lives in Nagazora, it wasn't your intention... you're not really cut out for World Serpent."
"But now it seems... heh. All I can say is: as expected of our Sovereign."
"His vision, spanning tens of thousands of years, can see through the essence of people and things that others can't."
"You're the same as us."
"No difference at all."
"You've just been standing in the sunlight so long that you forgot you were already tainted by darkness."
At that moment——
"..."
Raiden Mei said nothing.
She was looking at a face on the screen. Not quite familiar — but seared into her memory.
Ling Ke.
The black-haired young man who had appeared before her out of nowhere, warned her that suffering was coming, and then vanished without a trace.
She'd believed he died in the Third Eruption. Just like the millions of other innocent Nagazora residents.
However...
"Captured by Cocolia. Tortured for more than half a year."
"Discovered by Schicksal's investigation team afterward. Transferred to the West Asia Branch. Turned into a disposable experimental subject..."
"Now the Tenth Herrscher of this era?"
"Currently taking revenge on everyone?"
Raiden Mei's grip on the tablet tightened.
"Crack~"
The screen fractured under her fingers.
Her state of mind was clearly far from calm.
In truth, the current Raiden Mei had changed a great deal.
Ever since she became the true Herrscher of Thunder again — since the Herrscher personality 「Raiden Mei」 disappeared... or rather, merged with her — she was no longer the gentle person she'd once been.
But even so...
"Because of my ignorance. Because of my distrust... that emergency call was intercepted by Cocolia's people."
"The person sent to capture him was Bronya."
"All of this... was because of me."
Mei was shaking.
And yet——
"Truly impressive."
Jackal was still going, sardonic as ever. "You actually managed to shape a Herrscher with a single phone call."
"That kind of experimental efficiency — even I can't compete. I'm genuinely impressed."
She crossed her arms and added, deliberately: "Maybe if you put down the knife in your hand, you'd make a top-tier scholar."
"Want to tr——"
"Are you done?"
Raiden Mei cut her off cold. "If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."
She didn't wait for Jackal to respond. She turned and walked away.
The tablet, gripped tight in her hand, she did not return.
Jackal watched her retreating back. Under the mask, the corners of her mouth curved upward in a clear arc.
In her field of vision, Raiden Mei's footsteps were getting faster and faster.
Clearly, all she wanted right now was to get back to her room.
Recalling the past...
The tragedy that struck Nagazora — if Kiana hadn't been there... if that girl who held the most important place in her heart hadn't existed — Mei was certain she would have fallen long ago.
But she'd had Kiana. What did Ling Ke have?
He was alone. No one to lean on.
Constantly on the receiving end of other people's malice.
What kind of despair was that?
Just thinking about it sent a chill down Raiden Mei's spine.
If you could still lay the greatest sin of the Third Eruption at Cocolia's feet as the instigator, then when it came to Ling Ke's case...
No — it was precisely because he existed... he had risked his life to warn her, delivered intelligence of incomparable importance in advance, and she... had chosen to walk the wrong path.
Her ignorance had destroyed him.
Indirectly destroyed millions of innocent lives in Nagazora.
She'd had the chance to change everything.
She was the one who threw it away.
Now, he had crawled back out of hell and begun his revenge.
If this were an ordinary enemy, she could simply kill them.
But this person... was someone she herself had pushed off the cliff.
She genuinely did not know how to face him.
"Why did it turn out like this?"
Raiden Mei's heart was in agony. "What should I do?"